FTX founder Bankman-Fried arrested in the Bahamas
Founder of collapsed FTX crypto exchange Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in The Bahamas after US authorities filed criminal charges against him.
It is a remarkable fall from grace for the 30-year-old entrepreneur who rode the bitcoin boom to build one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges and a $26.5 billion net worth, according to Forbes a year ago.
FTX, founded in 2019 and headquartered in The Bahamas, filed for bankruptcy on November 11 after it battled to find funds to stave off collapse as traders rushed to withdraw $6 billion from the site within 72 hours.
Bahamian attorney-general Ryan Pinder said that Bankman-Fried had been taken into custody on Monday evening at his apartment complex in Albany, Nassau, The Bahamas, after receiving formal notification from the US government that it had filed criminal charges. It is expected that he will be extradited to the United States.
“He was arrested in reference to various Financial Offences against laws of the United States, which are also offences against laws of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas,” the statement said, adding he was taken into custody without incident and will appear in Nassau’s Magistrate Court on Tuesday.
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The US Attorney’s office in Manhattan verified Bankman-detention Fried’s in The Bahamas but declined to comment further on the charges.
Bankman-Fried’s lawyer Mark Cohen did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The indictment of Bankman-Fried by U.S. officials coincides with the Department of Justice’s consideration of charges against Binance, the biggest cryptocurrency exchange.
Reuters reported Monday that some Justice Department prosecutors believe they have amassed enough evidence in their lengthy investigation of Binance to file charges against the business and a few of its top executives.